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Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Halfling Excerpt

Read this excerpt from Halfling, then go to the FB Launch Party for A Fantasy Christmas on Facebook and answer the question there for a chance to win a prize!

Chapter
Six

Kara
stripped her jacket off and spread her wings wide. She rolled her shoulders,
the movement sending a relaxing shiver across her wings, through each feather.
She stood inside her cottage, afraid of going to the cliff. Though she’d not
found anyone in the bushes on her last flight, she still couldn’t shake the
feeling of having been watched. The thought terrified her.

She
glanced up at the ceiling, wondering if it would be all that difficult to just do a little flutter around the room when a
knock sounded on the door. She jerked, instinctively pulling her wings in,
grimacing against the pain of the movement. She quickly grabbed a sweater and
pulled it on, her mind immediately panicked at the thought that someone might see
through a slit in the curtains, in spite of the fact that she’d secured them
tightly.

She
took a deep, calming breath and moved to open the door, pulling it only far
enough to peek out. She nearly slammed it when she saw who stood on the other
side. Seb. Instead she simply stared at him dumbly. Long moments passed before
he lifted one brow sardonically.

“I’m
not going to bite you.” Pause. “Unless you want me to.”

Kara’s
jaw dropped then snapped shut. “Do you always have to be such a—” She clamped
her mouth shut. Why did he prod her to such meanness?

“I’m
kidding,” he said. “I came to see if you wanted to go for a walk.”

“Why?”
she blurted.

“Don’t
worry; it’s business.” Remoteness shuttered his face as he stared at the
doorframe, not meeting her eyes. “I have some ideas I want to go over with
you.”

“Oh.
Um.” She glanced back into her cottage, as if the answer to his question could
be found there.

“Do
. . . do you have someone there?” he asked, taking a step back. “I’ll just talk
to you tomorrow, then.”

“No,”
she said quickly, holding a hand toward him as if she could stop him with the
gesture. Oddly, he sounded upset, which was reason enough to let him go.
Honestly, she preferred to get outside for a while, even if it was with such a
grump. “Hold on, just let me grab my coat.” She came back as she pulled it on.
“Let’s go.”

He
shoved his hands in his pockets as they walked past his sled in the road. Was
she so wrapped up in stretching her wings that she hadn’t heard him drive up?
Not good. What if he’d just opened her door? It would be highly unusual for an
elf to be so rude, but if anyone would, Seb would.

“So?”
she prompted.

The
snow crunched lightly beneath their feet, glistening in the moonshine. “I’ve
been thinking about the logistics of the floor,” he said. “In order for it to
have the lighting we want, we need to suspend it. That means building it a
little higher off the ground than we planned.”

They
talked back and forth about how it would work. Seb thought they’d need an
appointment with the engineer to finalize the plans once they decided on the
flooring. They’d need to meet with an engineer at each part of the building
process to make sure they could proceed as they wanted.

Kara
didn’t understand why Seb needed to discuss this with her. It wasn’t anything
new that she didn’t already know.

“Was
there something else?” she asked after they walked in silence for a few
minutes.

Seb
stopped short and she faced him. The moon lit Seb from behind, throwing a halo
around his dark hair. Even in the shadow, his blue eyes stood out, two sapphire
jewels glowing in the night. He was tall, even for an elf, something she knew
from the moment she’d first seen him. Now, standing in front of him in the
moon’s reflective light, she realized just how much taller he was. Not just
taller, but broader, too, in a very real, very tangibleway. She’d certainly been attracted to other elves before, in the
South, in spite of the fact that she knew nothing real could ever happen with
any of them. But never before had she felt the gut-deep pull she felt to Seb. She only wished he weren’t so dang gorgeous!

He
shuffled the snow around with one foot, dropping his eyes. “I just . . . we
have to work together, and spend a lot of time together, so I thought . . .
sometimes, the way you look at me…” He looked up at her. “Kind of like you’re
looking at me now.” She blinked and tried to adopt a completely neutral
expression. She had a suspicion she failed miserably. “There can’t be . . . I’m
not interested in . . . getting involved
. . .”

As
his words slowly sank into her psyche, she realized what he was saying—or
rather, trying to say. She bristled, her wings quivering against her back. She
scoffed—loudly. His eyes widened at the sound. Even in the shadows, it was
clear.

“Are
you kidding?” She laughed, not an ounce of humor in it. “You think I’m . . .?
Please!” She pulled away, walking back toward her cottage. She might be in
absolutely no position to even consider someone romantically, but for him to
basically tell her no possible way .
. . it hurt.

Kara
heard his quick footsteps as he jogged to catch up. “Look, I’m sorry if it
sounds—”

She
whirled on him. “It sounds ridiculous.” She jabbed a finger into his chest. His
very solid chest. She withdrew her hand as if burned. “Guess you can’t imagine any
girl who wouldn’t just be falling all over herself for you, huh?”

She
swung away again, stalking through the snow. This time he kept pace with her.

“If
I misread your looks, I’m sorry. It’s just that you don’t look at other—”

“And
you know me well enough to know how I look at other people?” she half-yelled,
not looking his way.

“You
don’t look at Blue that way, even when he’s so clearly hitting on you.”

“Look
at him like . . .” She huffed, mainly because she knew he spoke the truth, and
embarrassment flooded her. She should have known she was being too obvious in
her admiration for his beauty. That’s all
she admired, and though it was blinding at times, she should have kept her
thoughts from her face. Sometimes she hated that the only thing she seemed capable
of hiding was her cursed wings.

“I’m
sorry.” He sounded anything but. “I don’t mean to offend. I just wanted to make
sure we were clear . . .”

Kara’s
anger drained. He was right. She hated that he was right, but that didn’t
change the fact that he was. He might be a jerk sometimes, but at least he was
honest. That was something she could admire. Besides his face. And those eyes.
And his broad shoulders. And muscular arms. She shook her head and her steps
slowed until they were walking a normal pace. They walked in silence until her
cottage came into view.

“Kara,”
he said. “I’m—”

“Please,”
she said, holding a hand up to stop his words, not looking his way. “Don’t
apologize again. It doesn’t suit you.” Then realizing her rudeness, she gritted
her teeth. “That was uncalled for. Sorry. It doesn’t matter. You were only
saying what you thought.”

“But,
I—”

“I’ll
see you tomorrow.” She jogged the last little bit to her cottage, ducked inside
and slammed the door. Slumped against the door, she blinked and a rogue tear
rolled down her cheek. Silently cursing her stupid girly-ness, she pushed away
from the door. When she heard his sled start up, she stripped off her coat and
threw it angrily to the floor.